/*
 * The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2013 AlgorithmX2 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
 * obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software
 * without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute,
 * sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
 * subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
 * copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
 * EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
 * AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
 * SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 */

package appeng.api.storage.data;

import net.minecraft.nbt.NBTTagCompound;

import appeng.api.features.IItemComparison;

/**
 * Don't cast this... either compare with it, or copy it.
 * <p>
 * Don't Implement.
 */
public interface IAETagCompound {

    /**
     * @return a copy ( the copy will not be a IAETagCompound, it will be a NBTTagCompound )
     */
    NBTTagCompound getNBTTagCompoundCopy();

    /**
     * compare to other NBTTagCompounds or IAETagCompounds
     *
     * @param a compared object
     * @return true, if they are the same.
     */
    @Override
    boolean equals(Object a);

    /**
     * @return the special comparison for this tag
     */
    IItemComparison getSpecialComparison();
}
